 Welcome to ITU Telecom World 2018 here in Durban, South Africa, where I'm very pleased to be joined in the studio today by the Honourable Cia Bonga Ciprian Quelle, who is the Minister of Telecommunications and Postal Services for South Africa. Minister, thank you very much for being with us in the studio today. Thank you very much. It's a pleasure to see you again. Now I'd like to start off by congratulating you for a great opening day here at ITU Telecom World. It's been an extremely exciting and fruitful day, I think, for a lot of people here. I wanted to talk to you a little bit about the theme of ITU Telecom World 2018. Is innovation for smart digital development? What does smart digital development mean to you and how is South Africa working towards it? Yeah, we're very excited to be hosting this big congress for the first time in Africa. This digitisation for smart development is very key to us. Not only in South Africa, but as a continent, as a whole, because we're working as a group. It means to us that we have to change the way and the part of this digital revolution. We must not be left behind. We don't want to say later, let's sleep in leapfrog. We want to be in the forefront of this development. We want to utilise the capabilities here in Africa, our own innovations. Yes, we learn from other innovations, but use the huge content we have, use the experience we have, use the problems we have to come with solutions to stabilise those problems and solve it for our ordinary people. It is in that way where we think we'll say we have succeeded when these new innovations, these new digital innovations are helping ordinary people's problems in the most remote areas in our continent and the country. Now, what is the role of the fourth industrial revolution in South Africa's development? We prioritise it a lot because we think we can benefit a lot. You remember that we come from a partate where the majority of people didn't participate in economic activity. Now we're talking about inclusive growth in South Africa. Our president in this state of the nation address, he stressed the importance of the use of this rapid change and take advantage of these rapid changes in the ICT and applications development to improve the very condition which affects life in South Africa. We talk of education. We can do a lot with just digitising the education content, but not just digitising to make it easy for teachers, but also the way we deliver it to the people in the most interactive in their own languages and so on, is what is going to make sense. Health. We still got many remote areas with very limited access to specialist medical doctors, but we can utilise these digital technologies first to self-assist, to check your blood pressure. You don't need to read it much in machines now, but that can transmit that information immediately to a doctor sitting here in Daven and be able to advise. In my remote village, even if I'm critically sick, if we adopt these technologies, they can save my life, sitting in a specialist hospital here in King Edward in Daven hospital. So those are the things we say it must have expressed meaning to the people, to the whole of society because this revolution affects all aspects of life. Today at the United Nations, we are talking of the Sustainable Development Goals which we must achieve by 2030. I was very pleased last year that the new Secretary-General addressed the broadband council, which I'm fortunate to serve in, where he said he wants to work with the ITU and UNESCO to really use the ICT to accelerate the achievement of all those 17 Sustainable Development Goals for the United Nations and assist particularly developing countries and the least developing countries with them. So the issue of access to these developing technologies then become more critical for us as developing economies. Critical and key, absolutely. I mean, there are many South African SMEs here, I've noticed, at the exhibition. Basically, I just wanted to find out how important is digital entrepreneurship and innovation in development, and how can governments best stimulate it, do you think? We're very happy that working with our partners, we brought quite a number of SMEs here. They went through a vigorous process of selection because we are supporting quite a number of SMEs for ICTs and technology in South Africa. The strategy we have developed, it says we must help them with the incubation. Incubation is very important. It's not like manufacturing. The risk of failure is high if you are not mentored correctly. So that's why incubation centers like we have in Johannesburg and other cities here in South Africa, they are helping these entrepreneurs. Private sector, big companies also coming in and assisting these people. What has become quite clear in South Africa that you must take them to a period of one and a half to two years, and then the level of success then becomes much, much higher. If you take them for short periods, it doesn't help. The industrial zones which are put here, and one of the leakers, for instance, here in the airport in Durban, King Chagai International Airport, we've got two-bed trade port next to it, which is an industrial zone. We're very happy fishing that with the province of Ghazulu-Natal, so that the digital entrepreneurs from Ghazulu-Natal can go and exercise their activities there, but also are trying to make it a center for these gadgets repairs. Instead of when this gadget is damaged, you send it back to US or China. You can be repaired here in South Africa because we're going to train them in depth training working with these OEMs to make sure that they can produce good quality jobs. The same thing we're doing in Pretoria. So those are the key things. This center for industrial revolution or digital revolution, we want to establish at CSIR, which is our research institute in Pretoria, in partnership and with the assistance of ITU and also the World Economic Forum there, showing keen interest to support it and guide us in this. It's very key because it will be the center where our young people and entrepreneurs can bring their technologies. They can be tested. They can check whether they are conforming with international standards. Here, instead of transporting across the seas at huge cost, sometimes where they even lose their intellectual capacity. So as an African continent, it won't only be used by us and we're working with the partners to actually fund it so that you can expedite its establishment. We'll be launching it here during the course of this conference, but we want it to start operating quite soon. The technology experts and researchers, which are in our universities at the CSIR Institute itself will be working to mentor these young entrepreneurs to actually come into this industry. This year you're hosting ITU Telecom. Well, we're very pleased and honored to be here. I just really wanted to find out what's the value of events such as ITU Telecom World to you as a host and as a participant. It is a very... I didn't know the importance of this until we started hosting it. The first value we have established as a government, we didn't spend money here, but it is mainly the partners in the private sector who paid for this event because they see value in collaboration and in demonstrating technologies and sharing knowledge. So that's the first thing. The second thing is startups like you have seen who are here and some of them will be getting awards, but we're getting government leaders from all over the world, from over 40 countries who are converging here and having discussions. We're having top industry researchers and players and CEOs who are gathered here in Devon sharing their experiences and what they are doing to overcome challenges. So that sharing, it helps us to move faster than if you're doing it on your own as a kind of doing it on your own as an individual. So this oldest organization in the world, the ITU, international organization, is really changing. I think we praise it because the approach they are taking is that they should focus to everybody and not leave anyone behind. So now they are focusing on us as developing countries that are not left behind and they are focusing on our small businesses so that they are not left behind. So it is a huge benefit. As an example, just before I came here, I got people with disability, they are not delegates, they are coming to a side events. Minister, we're very happy that we are hosting this thing, we're watching it, and we want to participate because we think these new technologies will remove the disabilities we should have and will make us function and contribute. They are all in business with their disabilities. They think they can contribute more to the growth of the economy, instead of being dependent on those who are those who are able. So that's what is encouraging to me that the citizens in the city, they don't see these things as things for the scientists and the robotic people, but they see it as having a true meaning to them as ordinary people of this province. Finally, I'd like to give you the opportunity to give us a message for the participants here at ITU, the technical world, but also the wider audience watching on the ITU YouTube channel and the Soundclown channel, etc. Thank you. I think the first message is that we encourage the participants to engage so that you can come up with a better product because this ITU website is going to be full of these good ideas for even those who are not here, they can access the information. So their engagement and sharing of information will be helpful. Second one, and the last one, we're saying we have got a beautiful country as presidents have said. Please find time to visit our beaches. They are just less than a kilometer. Our harbor is less than a half a kilometer. Our mountains are less than two hours away from here in Devon. Our big five game, a wild game parks, they are less than two, two, two hours here in the north. We've got very beautiful country. We've got very beautiful culture. So please be part of this huge, diverse society, but united in our diversity and enjoy our hospitality while you're in Devon. Thank you. Minister Brené, thank you very much indeed. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.